


Finally

by stopwhiningandgotobed (hardlifeyourlife)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, agere, between 2-10, caregiver!magnus, littles fluctuate ages throughout the story, nsap, regressed!Lup, regressed!taako, this is a gift for someone, un-beta'd, will edit more later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:26:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21837448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hardlifeyourlife/pseuds/stopwhiningandgotobed
Summary: Magnus finally convinces the twins that he's safe to be around.
Relationships: Lup & Taako (The Adventure Zone), Magnus Burnsides & Lup & Taako, Magnus Burnsides & Taako
Comments: 6
Kudos: 61





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mcschnuggles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcschnuggles/gifts).



It had taken Magnus almost a month to convince the twins that it would be worth it - that he would be worth it. Finally, finally, he found them standing at his front door with their little backpacks slung carefully over their shoulders. He’d never seen the bags before - it was obvious that they had picked them out in the kids section of the store. Lup’s was shaped like a unicorn stuffed animal, and Taako’s was shaped like a hedgehog. 

Lup had a big childish smile on her face, and it was obvious that she had mostly regressed on the bus ride over. Taako, however, didn't look regressed at all, at least not to Magnus' untrained eye. His friend had one hand in his pocket and the other holding firmly onto his sisters backpack string. Okay… maybe he was a little regressed. Magnus really didn’t know what to think. 

Lup practically shoved Magnus aside to get into the house, towing her brother along with her. Neither of them said anything to Magnus in introduction or hello, either. Instead, Taako sat on the floor by the couch and hugged his backpack to his chest while Lup began meticulously tearing the living room apart and building a fort. Once it was finished, the two crawled inside and shut the blanket 'door' behind them, bookbags and all. 

Magnus watched with wide, surprised eyes. Taako hadn't told him what to expect really when they'd agreed, just told him when they would come over. Magnus had even enquired about food or anything they might need, but Taako assured him that they would bring everything with them. 

And take it all when they leave. 

Magnus, though, had been more excited than he would admit. He'd bought lots of snacks - things he liked when he was a kid - and had even bought cookies to bake. But, it seemed that they just wanted to be alone. 

From what Magnus had gathered, this was a new experience for all of them. The twins had never had a caregiver before, and Magnus had never been a caregiver. Maybe they were just as nervous as he was?

He quickly got to work baking, keeping an ear out in the living room. He could hear quiet giggles and lowered voices, but otherwise silence. Until about thirty minutes later when the smell of chocolate chip cookies began wafting through the house. 

The voices in the living room stopped suddenly, and Magnus tried not to run to see if they would come out of their hideout. No, he would play it cool and not scare them away on the first day. 

He leaned against the counter pretending to scroll through his phone when he heard small voices in the hallway. 

"Okay, you stay here and-" Lup. She sounded like a military general, as if her word was law.

"Why do I always have to stay here? I'm the biggest!" Taako. His voice was high pitched and whiny, and it was obvious that he was not the biggest. 

"Because you'll bunk it up, that's why! Besides, you're not the biggest, I am." 

"Nuh-uh. I'm the tallest!"

"That's just because of your stupid hat. We have to be sneaky, remember? Those bells are going to alert everyone within a hundred houses!" 

There was a slight jingling of bells that signaled Lup had been the winner. Magnus waited about thirty seconds before looking up from his phone, catching Lup in a crouch right in the middle of his kitchen. 

"You don't have to steal my cookies you know." He said teasingly, and she jumped. 

She immediately went into begging mode, putting her hands together and giving him the biggest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen. "Can we pleeeeeaaassseee have some cookies Mr. Burnsides?" She asked, and it took everything in him not to shove the plate right into her hands.

"Of course you can! But why don't you both come into the kitchen and we can eat them together?" He asked, and Lup glanced between him and the cookies, trying to decide if it was worth it. 

Before she could answer, there was a loud jingling from the hallway, grabbing both of their attention. 

"Ah, one moment mister!" She said sweetly, before disappearing around the corner.

There was another series of bickering before Lup reappeared, this time holding tightly onto Taako's hand, although he refused to come out from behind the wall. 

"Deal!" She said, reaching out her free hand for a shake, which Magnus gave her happily. 

"Why don't you go sit at the table and I'll be there in a second. Do you want milk?" He asked, but when he turned back around from the fridge they were gone.

He smiled, grabbing a couple glasses and the plate of cookies, bringing them into the dining room. He set them out so everyone could reach them, putting a glass of milk in front of each of them. 

Lup immediately reached for the cookies, passing one over to her brother before taking a big bite. Taako held it in his hands, staring at it for a long time, not looking up. 

"So, that's a pretty cool fort you made in the living room. I used to make forts when I was a kid." Magnus began, biting into a cookie. 

Lup's eyes went wide. "Yeah! We like to play house with our babies." She said, and Taako's eyes widened suddenly. He squirmed a little bit in his chair as if he wanted to get up but was fighting the urge. 

"Lup," Taako began. "I think you might have left your baby in the house by herself." He said, looking up at her with a soft look in his eyes. 

She did not match it, frowning at him and letting out a groan of annoyance. "No, I'm not going to get your baby for you. If you're worried about her, then go get her." She said, punctuating the statement with a bite of cookie.

"I can go grab her, is she in the fort?" Magnus began to stand, but stopped when Taako let out a yell. 

"No! No! Don't! She's, uh. She's fine. She's just a doll anyways." He mumbled the last part, and the words seemed to make him sad. After a moment he shot another sorrowful glance at his sister. He couldn't seem to help from reaching over and grabbing her sleeve, tugging on it gently. "Luppie-" He whined, making Magnus' heart melt, but Lup did not feel the same way. She quickly shook him off, making a frustrated noise and shoving him gently. 

Magnus seemed to be in limbo before slowly sinking back into his chair. He wanted to say something to Lup about her behavior, but wasn't sure that it was his place. Was it his place?

"Taako, bud. You feelin alright?" He asked, voice soft, deciding that it might be good to look at it from a different perspective. Taako responded very quickly to his proddings.

"I'm fine." 

Magnus made a face at that, clearly disbelieving. "Taako. We've known each other long enough for me to know when you're not being really honest, huh?" He said, voice soft. "It's me, though. It's Magnus! You can talk to me. I wanna make you feel better."

"You can't make me do anything." Taako shot back, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away from him. Magnus tried not to let it get to him, remembering when he and Taako first met and how closed off the other man was. This… was like starting over. And it hurt. 

Lup shot her brother a glare, kicking him hard under the table at that. She must have noticed the look on Magnus' face. "You're being rude, doofus. Just be nice for once." She said, and Taako's hurt eyes shot over to her. 

"I'm just being honest, goofus." He defended, shoving back at her forcefully. Her chair moved a little bit, but she didn't seem to notice. She gave him another forceful push, and his chair tipped over. It was only his hands grabbing onto hers that kept him from hitting the ground. 

"You're not being honest! Mister made us cookies and everything and you're just being an asshole!" She screeched, and it was only the sound of Magnus' voice that kept her from grabbing a handful of Taako's long hair. 

Things had spiraled fast. 

"Lup! Hey, stop it! That's no way to talk to your brother, and we're not going to use language like that in this house. And we don't hurt each other." He paused, although his protective mode was at an all time high. He had to stop himself from standing up, not wanting to scare either one of them by being the biggest thing in the room. "I don't wanna have to set a lot of rules, but you can't just be mean to your brother because he's sad."

Taako mumbled something, but it was overshadowed by Lup raising her voice. 

"But that's not fair! He-"

"It wasn't nice and you know it. Please apologize. And Taako, you should apologize too for yelling and pushing." Magnus responded quickly, feeling proud of himself. He was going it! He was being a good caregiver.

"I-" Taako was once again interrupted by Lup, who slammed her cookie down on the table angrily, sending pieces of it flying around the dining room. 

"I'm not sorry. I don't wanna be sorry! He's just being mean-" She motioned to Taako without looking at him. Her brother had started fiddling with his shirt, his hands slowly making their way towards his ears. 

"He wasn't being mean, Lup, he was just-"

Magnus wasn't interrupted by Lup this time. Instead, his hands immediately went to his ears when Taako started screaming at the top of his lungs. Lup also took cover under the table. 

"I can take care of myself!" Taako punctuated the scream once the rest of the room was quiet. It occurred to Magnus that this must have been what he was trying to say while he and Lup had been arguing. "I don't need your help!" He screamed, letting the sound linger for a minute before standing suddenly and bolting into the bathroom. 

In the fresh quiet of the dining room, Magnus heard the door slam closed, and a very quiet click followed behind it. Fuck.

Lup's eyes were wide when she appeared from underneath the table, and they slowly traveled over towards Magnus. She looked shocked at the outburst, and a little lost.

"Fuck."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus deals with the fallout of their fight.

Magnus was completely lost. Every other time Taako had gotten upset in the past, Lup had been there to take care of it. However, a quick glance over at Lup told him that she was not going to be any help. She was staring right back at him, waiting for him to make the first move. It was obvious that, in this state, she just needed him to fix everything so they could go back to eating cookies and playing with their dolls. 

Dolls.

"Lup," Magnus said, keeping his voice low. He moved around the table and put his hands gently on her shoulders. "Honey, will you please go get Taako's baby?" He asked softly. He smiled at her, hoping it was at least a little reassuring. 

She nodded and quickly made her way to the living room. She stopped halfway down the hallway, coming back and grabbing a couple of cookies. Magnus gave her a questioning glance, and she paused. 

"These are for the babies." She said, as if that explained everything, and then ran back down the hallway. How she had remained little throughout this entire ordeal was a complete unknown to Magnus, who was as tense and as worried as he had ever been. 

Despite this, Magnus made his way over to the bathroom door. He put his ear against it as if to listen, although he couldn’t hear anything through the wood of the door. He was just about to knock on the door when a voice came from the other side

"I can hear you, Magnus." Oh, that was a very grown-up voice. He's never heard Taako sound this serious before, ever. "Just go away." His voice cracked a little bit at that, and it sounded wobbly. 

"But then who's gonna give you a big hug and tell you how amazing you are?" He asked, hoping to come off as joking but also still appealing to his self-esteem. Even grown-up Taako loved to receive compliments. There was silence from the other side, however, and Magnus thought that meant his appeal had failed. "Come on, buddy. It's me! Your old pal Magnus! You don't have to hide from me."

The lock suddenly clicked, and Magnus waited about three seconds before opening the door, giving Taako time to get settled before disturbing his peace. 

It took Magnus a minute to find him, squished between the wall and the toilet, his arms around his legs. His face was tear-streaked and red, and he averted his eyes when Magnus came in. If it was possible, he squished himself even further into the corner.

"Well, there's your beautiful face," Magnus said softly, hoping he was coming off as sweet and not condescending or creepy. Although Taako had sounded very grown-up, Magnus didn’t want to assume he was anything until given confirmation. "Do you wanna talk about it?" 

Taako shrugged, tugging on his braid nervously. He didn't seem to be acting all that big, but his voice was deeper and more adult than he acted normally. He had to be faking. 

"I'm fine, Magnus. I just… don't like chocolate chip cookies." He said, although his words came out pitiful-sounding, and he punctuated the sentence with a small sigh. 

"I… I know that this is all new. I didn't mean to intrude when I invited you guys over. If it's too much- if I'm too much- you can talk to me about it. Or leave, even. I want you to be happy, you know?" Magnus said, hoping that his words were coming out the way that he wanted while still trying to speak with a simultaneously big and small Taako. 

"No, no! You're not too much, I-" Taako started crying again, and he instinctively moved over to Magnus, looking for some comfort. Magnus didn't even move, not even to touch him, not wanting to scare him away. "I don't wan' you to think that I… that I'm… that I’m not capable," he punctuated it with a sob. "And… I'm not a baby-" he was sounding little-er the more he spoke, but Magnus wasn't going to mention it. "I'm a grown-up, and- and-" Magnus shushed him, reaching out slowly to pull him to his chest, petting his hair gently.

Suddenly, everything made sense. "Hey, hey, everything's okay! Of course you're able to take care of yourself- that's not why I asked to take care of you. It's because I love you and I want to show you just how much. You're so important to me, you know?" He said, rubbing a hand over his back to try and soothe him. “I want to support you in all aspects of your life. And, you know, just because you can do something alone doesn’t mean you have to.”

Taako hiccupped, rubbing at his eyes as if he could force himself to stop crying. He wrapped his arms around Magnus’s neck, burying his head into the other man’s shoulder and pulling himself into his lap. He continued to let out little sobs and hiccups, though. 

Magnus continued to ‘ssh’ him and pet his hair and back gently, holding him tightly against him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he turned, seeing Lup framed against the door, holding a doll in her arms. Perfect timing. 

He shifted Taako in his lap, moving him around easily until he could see the baby and his sister. 

“Taako~” He cooed, stopping him from once again hiding in his chest. “Someone really missed you.” He said, and Lup held out the baby proudly. 

“I took really good care of her for you! I brushed her hair and gave her a cookie, which she really really liked! But she said that even though I was the coolest person she’d ever met and wanted to come and live with me, she still missed her daddy very much.” Lup barely let Taako get a word in, which Magnus was beginning to feel might be the norm. 

Taako took the baby and hugged her tightly, wiping at his eyes to try and get the last of the tears out of the way. He frowned at Lup, though, moving the baby to his side. 

“I’m not a daddy, I’m a mommy and you know that!” He complained, and Magnus laughed. He stood up, helping Taako to do the same, before ushering both of them in for a very big hug. 

“I’m so proud of both of you for today, even though you fought with each other. Why don’t you go play in your fort and I’ll bring the cookies out to you?” He suggested, and they nodded. Lup quickly grabbed her brother’s hand and pulled him down the hallway. 

“You know, Mister said that I wasn’t a baby,” He heard Taako tell Lup proudly. “Which means that I’m older.” 

“He doesn’t know what he’s talking about, obviously I’m older,” She said, and Taako whined indignantly and loudly. Their argument continued softly in the background as Magnus collected their cookies and milk. 

\-----

Things had been quiet in the house for a while. Magnus was engulfed in some sort of kids show that was playing softly in the background and texting Merle about all of the plot-holes and insane logic when he noticed it. 

He looked up to see both of the twins sleeping heavily on top of each other as if they had just collapsed in the middle of playing. They were curled around each other and their babies; Taako’s arms were around Lup’s middle, and her hand was holding on tightly to his hair, which spelled disaster for when they both woke up. Magnus had never seen them both early in the morning, but he prepared himself emotionally for having two grumpy babies on his hands. 

He snapped a quick picture, stopping himself from sending it off to Merle, instead deciding to just saving it to his phone. Neither one of them shifted at the sound of the click, and Magnus stood. This was a good time to clean.

He took apart the fort, laying a blanket out over them on the floor, putting the cushions back onto the couch. He cleaned up the plate of cookies and cups of milk, disappearing into the kitchen to quickly wash them and put them away. He heard the floorboards creaking and turned just in time to catch Lup barreling into him. He let out a little ‘oof’, his arms immediately coming down around her shoulders. 

“Hey kiddo,” He said, trying to pry her arms off of him but failing to do so. “Everything okay?”

“Didn’ know where you were,” She mumbled, and he leaned down to her level. 

“This is my house, silly. I’m not going anywhere. Can I pick you up?” He asked, and she nodded, gripping his neck tightly as he did so. He carefully brought her back into the living room, sitting down on the couch. 

She snuggled into him, and he pulled a recently folded blanket over both of them. The tv was still playing the same show from before, and they both watched it for a while until Taako woke up. 

When he did so, he sat up quickly, looking around until he saw them both sitting on the couch. He smiled a little, putting his baby back into his book bag and cleaning up the immediate area before sitting down next to Lup. He didn’t make any move to cuddle with them, but he did reach over and take Lup’s hand gently. 

“You almost ready to go, Lulu?” He asked, and Magnus realized that this was Adult Taako. He immediately grew nervous - was there supposed to be some kind of talk through after this? Did he do a good job? It was pretty chaotic for a while there, was Taako okay with that?

Lup shook her head, snuggling closer to Magnus’ side. They both seemed pretty sleepy still, but it was almost 8 o’clock. They needed to leave if they wanted to make their bus home. 

“The sooner you leave, the sooner you can be at home in your warm bed, huh?” He reminded her, helping her to sit up. “And, besides, I think your brother is ready to head out.” He said, casting a glance over to Taako before looking back at Lup. 

Taako had never been someone to spend a night outside of his own house, and he was always back home for dinner. Magnus was fine with that, as he was starting to feel plenty tired himself. 

“We can come back though, right?” Lup asked, her eyes wide and starting to fill with tears. She looked between Taako and Magnus quickly. 

“Of course you can come back, whenever you want to,” Magnus assured her, giving her another quick hug. “Let’s get you ready to go, huh?” He asked, and she nodded, sliding off the couch and starting to put her shoes on. 

Magnus watched her gather her things, jumping when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Taako staring at him.

“Uh, thank you for this, Magnus. We had a good time.” He paused. “I had a good time. Thank you for dealing with my drama.” He said, his cheeks turning a slightly pink color, and Magnus shook his head. 

“No, I had a really nice time! It was nice having you here. I mean it when I say you can come back whenever you want.” He assured him, and Taako smiled before hugging him tightly. Yeah, Magnus could get used to having them both around.


End file.
